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Digits: Gambits & Gadgets
In the World of Technology

Welcome to the Club

Robert Pittman, co-chief operating officer of
AOL Time Warner Inc.,
got high marks from some cable executives on his first industry address since the mammoth AOL-Time Warner deal closed.

What exactly was so spectacular about his appearance? Speaking at a private dinner for board members of the National Cable Television Association in Washington, D.C., Tuesday night, Mr. Pittman painted an upbeat picture of AOL's new life as a cable operator. Among other things, he indicated that AOL wouldn't be selling off Time Warner's cable-TV assets anytime soon, as has been feared in some cable circles. Some cable execs have worried that a selloff would be bad news for cable stock prices, which have taken a beating thanks to downdrafts in the telecom and tech sectors.

Mr. Pittman, who was accompanied by AOL's regulatory honcho George Vradenburg, didn't address this issue head-on. Rather, he argued that cable is one of the strongest parts of AOL's newly expanded business and that the Web giant as a result is now better-positioned than ever to expand into the PC and entertainment worlds. Mr. Pittman also promised to work closely with other cable companies on open access issues and, in a lighthearted moment, shared that he regularly swaps e-mails with his 80-year-old mother. "It was a chance to reintroduce himself to everybody," one attendee said of Mr. Pittman's performance. "People seemed appreciative that he was there."

'Geek' Shortage

Economists and techno-gurus aren't the only ones in Silicon Valley trying to explain slow-growth news reported by a local think tank. Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network's latest report on the valley's health showed a 3% job-growth rate last year, a weakening from the rates of the prior five years and a big slowing from the 5.5% growth rate in 1996.

State Sen. Steve Peace, for instance, had a possible explanation -- and solution -- for these slow-growth blues. The problem, said the Democrat from El Cajon, is simple: Silicon Valley is suffering from a shortage of "geeks."

Talking to a crowd of high-tech lobbyists in Santa Clara, Calif., he argued that one reason e-tailers have hit the wall is that they have tapped out on geeks who patronize their Web sites. Geeks, he said, "aren't reflective of real people." Real people "kind of like going to the shopping mall and bumping into people, having to feel merchandise and stand in lines." His solution? Dot-com firms need to start attracting "real people" to their businesses and Web sites.

Signal Debate

A yearlong debate over how to send digital-TV signals is close to an ending. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television, representing TV stations, declared this week that the existing technique should be left alone. Some TV stations want to use a transmission method adopted more recently in Europe along with the U.S. technique, which was set in 1996. Last year, those stations petitioned the trade groups and the Federal Communications Commission to conduct side-by-side tests of the two technologies.

But the TV trade groups said their tests showed no need for a change. TV makers applauded since they don't want to change the digital TV receivers they have been selling since 1998. And Zenith Electronics Corp., a key designer of the original transmission technique, expects to reap sizable patent royalties.

But Baltimore-based
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.,
which pushed for the tests, says it will keep fighting to use the European transmission technique along with the original U.S. method. A spokesman says, "We do believe there are going to be changes in the future."

Kicking the Sparks

Cablevision Systems Corp.
, purveyor of the Internet-access service Optimum, is sending the high-kicking Rockettes in for the finale at Thursday night's Inaugural festivities at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The Rockettes, one of a stable of entertainment assets controlled by Cablevision, plan to perform "Parade." The piece features the Rockettes in military regalia and a dramatic on-stage "waterfall of fire" pyrotechnics display as the closer.

The number has proven a hit with New York crowds -- but didn't go over so well with the Secret Service. Agents, as it turned out, were a tad nervous at the prospect of having shooting flames so close to President-elect George W. Bush. So, the show will have to go on -- sans shooting flames. At Thursday night's show, the Rockettes will simply end their piece "with a big drum roll," a Rockettes representative said. "We think it should still be pretty dramatic."